Sanskrit Grammar (Harinamamrta Vyakaranam) - Module-1
By Param Sundar Das
Certificate Course
Course Duration
4 - 5 Months
4 - 5 Months
Videos
1 Hr.
1 Hr.
No. Of Sessions
40
40
Sessions per week
2
2
Language
English
Eligibility
N/A
Schedule of Classes
Starts on
-
08:45 pm to 09:45 pm IST
Regular classes onSat & Sun
About the Teacher
%2F1538317-Param_Sundar_Das.jpg&w=384&q=75)
Param Sundar Das
About the Teacher
Param Sundar Das came in touch with ISKCON in 2008 after he took admission in Bhaktivedanta Gurukula and International School (BGIS) situated in the holy land of Vrindavan. He thus completed his schooling from BGIS and was initiated by His Holiness Lokanath Swami Maharaj at the age of 17. He had the great good fortune of learning the spiritual culture and the scriptures since his childhood.
Under the instruction of his spiritual master, he studied Srila Jiva Gosvami’s Sri Harinamamrita Vyakaranam and the other Vaishnava scriptures for more than 4 years in Vrindavan. He is a Sanskrit scholar with expertise in Harinamamrita Vyakaranam. He teaches Sanskrit grammar and Sanskrit commentaries on Bhakti Shastras to the devotees from around the world.
He is based in Sri Vrindavan Dham. He completed the Bhakti Shastri course in 2014 from VIHE, Vrindavan. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in the Sanskrit language. He serves in various capacities i.e., editor, compiler, and proof-reader in his spiritual master’s book projects. He is also involved in translating the acaryas’ works into Hindi. He has also published translations of commentaries on Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s Siksastakam in a book form.
At the ISKCON Bhagavat Mahavidyalaya, he serves in the capacity of the teacher both for the on-spot students and for the online batches.
Course Overview
Course description: Harinamamrta Vyakaranam Course offers the student an in-depth study of the Sanskrit grammar called “Harinamamrta Vyakaranam” compiled by Srila Jiva Gosvami. The original Harinamamrta Vyakaranam (Bṛhat version) is compiled by Jiva Gosvami and the Madhyama version by Matsya Avatara Prabhu and team which was taught at Gopiparanadhana Prabhu’s Sanskrit School.
The course adopts the sūtra-by-sūtra style study of the Grammar. The sutras are approximately 1200 in numbers and have been systematically arrayed by the author (Jiva Gosvami) for an easy comprehension.
This course is an advanced level of study which would enable the students to read, understand and even translate the Sanskrit texts like the mūla ślokas (verses) and the commentaries of different acaryas.
Breakdown of the sutras per chapter & approximate no. of hours to be spent on studying each chapter are given below:
| Chapters | No. of Sūtras | No. of Hours (aaprox.) |
| Saṁjñā-sandhi-prakaraṇam | 86 | 15 |
| Śabda-prakaraṇam | 173 | 25 |
| Ākhyāta-prakaraṇam | 359 | 80 |
| Karaka-prakaraṇam | 109 | 35 |
| Kṛdanta-prakaraṇam | 186 | 40 |
| Samāsa-prakaraṇam | 128 | 40 |
| Taddhita-prakaraṇam | 237 | 60 |
| Total Numbers | 1278 | 315 |
Course Contents: Detailed Study of following prakaraṇas (chapters) in Four Modules:
| MODULE – 1 | ||
Chapter One Chapter Two | Saṁjñā-sandhi-prakaraṇam Nāma-prakaraṇam | Terminology and phonetic combinations Noun declension |
| MODULE – 2 | ||
| Chapter Three | Ākhyāta-prakaraṇam | Verb conjugation |
| MODULE – 3 | ||
Chapter Four Chapter Five | Kāraka-prakaraṇam Kṛdanta-prakaraṇam | The meanings of the case endings Participles, and nouns made with a kṛt suffix |
MODULE – 4 | ||
Chapter Six | Samāsa-prakaraṇam | Compounds |
Chapter Seven | Taddhita-prakaraṇam |
Course materials: Harināmāmṛta-vyākaraṇam (Volume One & Two) published by Rasbihari Lal & Sons, Loi Bazar, Vrindavan
Target audience: Anyone who is interested to learn Sanskrit grammar in detail and relish the scriptures in the original language—Sanskrit.
Assessment plan: One examination to be held at the end of each chapter. Homework assignments for every topic.
Important Guidelines for the students:
1. The students will be expected to memorize roughly 15-20 sutras per week. Anyone can easily memorize these Sanskrit sutras with approximately 15-20 minutes of daily practice.
2. Regarding the exercise/homework, at least 45 minutes per day is required for doing homework for the first 2 chapters. (It’ll be difficult to follow up with the course in case students are not able to cope with the homework and sutra memorization)
3. There’ll be exam mostly at the end of each chapter and also could be conducted in various intervals in between. There’ll be a maximum of one day break provided for the preparation.
4. We’ll have a break after we end the first Module and continue with other Modules.
5. We may cancel classes in case of major festivals like Janmastami, etc. or if any prominent Vaishnava tithi occurs.
6. Because this is an intense study program, the students interested to enroll should carefully study all the details about the course and manage their schedule accordingly for complete benefit.
Some important details about the Brhat and the Madhyama versions of HarinamamrtaVyakaranam:
Every full treatise on Sanskrit grammar must contain at least seven chapters (prakaraṇam) on the classical topics. In his treatise, JīvaGosvāmī composed 3181 sūtras. This is called the Bṛhat version. Of these, MatsyaAvatāra Dāsa selected the most essential ones, 1273 sūtras in total. He calls this the Madhyama version, or the course version: These are the sūtras presented here. This is the material Matsya used when he taught Sanskrit at Gopīparāṇadhana Prabhu’s Sanskrit School in Govardhana for six years (2005-2011) and in Vrindavan for three more years after Prabhuji’s departure from this world.
Similarly, Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita’s Vaiyākaraṇa-siddhānta-kaumudī, the most popular treatise in the study of Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī, has three shorter versions, called Madhyama-siddhānta-kaumudī, Laghu-siddhānta-kaumudī, and Sāra-siddhānta-kaumudī. All three are the work of Varadarāja. Matsya’s Madhyama version of Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa corresponds to Madhyama-siddhānta-kaumudī.